Strength of Schedule Rankings: How hard is your team's remaining schedule?

2017 Strength of Schedule

We already discussed the possibility of your team making the playoffs this week, but we did not include one important factor in that equation: the difficulty of their remaining schedules.


Luckily we will be addressing that here.


Below you'll find every team's remaining strength of schedule, calculated by taking the average points per game at home and on the road for each team's opponent so far this season.


A higher average means that the team's remaining schedule is harder, while a lower one means it is easier.

Strength of Schedule Rankings: How hard is your team's remaining schedule? - https://league-mp7static.mlsdigital.net/images/SOS-7-11-17.png?SbajnLA9whUz1AJkfIT.45DWEdRHmtnS

The Philadelphia Union have enjoyed a surge over their last 10 games, going 6-3-1 and moving closer to playoff positioning. Unfortunately for them, they also have the toughest remaining schedule in MLS. They have to travel to Toronto, Chicago and Atlanta, who have a combined record of 22-2-3 at home this season. They will also play home games against teams who have been good on the road, including Atlanta, Dallas and Chicago.


Among teams currently seeded 5-9 in the Eastern Conference according to points per game, the Montreal Impact have the easiest schedule. The big reason for that is that they still have 10 home games left, including dates against Philadelphia, Minnesota and New England, all of whom have been terrible on the road in 2017.


In the closely-grouped Western Conference, the Seattle Sounders seemed to be the most primed to make a run to the playoffs with the Portland Timbers facing the toughest schedule among those in the playoff hunt.


The easiest remaining schedule belongs to Real Salt Lake, having already played 11 games on the road. They will need to make up a lot of ground over their remaining 14 games, but with this schedule it could be possible.